


Together

by Airuna



Series: Leverage oneshots [3]
Category: Leverage
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Arguing, Eliot's martyr complex, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Hardison and Parker are not having it, M/M, Multi, and don't want to lose anyone, because they need each other, they all love each other, they make Eliot understand
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-25
Updated: 2017-08-25
Packaged: 2018-12-19 18:07:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11903277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Airuna/pseuds/Airuna
Summary: After Eliot's last attempt at martyrhood, the OT3 argue.





	Together

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheSeabear](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSeabear/gifts).



> So I decided I wasn't done with this series. Like always all mistakes are mine, english is not my first language and I apreciate corrections. TheSeabear pointed out to my in the last part of this series that I didn't use tag lines correctly and I've tried to rectify that (by the way, TheSeabear: Thank you for your help and taking the time to find me that article). Now onto the fic, this is my take on: Eliot would die for them and they would not appreciate it. Let me know if you like it!

"It's not that big of a deal," Eliot grunted, entering the closed brewery with his lovers following after him.

"Not a big deal?" Hardison asked completely flabbergasted. "You almost died!"

"Well, I didn't, did I?" The man crossed his arms in front of his chest. "I didn't even break a single bone." He sighed, how could they not see they were exaggerating?

"So not the point," said his boyfriend, rolling his eyes at him. "A little help?" he asked turned towards Parker.

Parker looked... white. Which was far scarier than what had actually happened, the girl wasn't easily startled. Then again, seeing one of the men you loved throwing away his life for you and being unable to stop it? That left an impression on anyone, even on their resilient mastermind. When she spoke, though, her voice was controlled and quite. "Why?"

"Why what?" Eliot raised his eyebrow almost daringly so naturally Parker answered by raising her chin in a clear challenge. There was a minute of silence during which him and Parker stared at each other while Hardison stood in the middle, fidgeting with his hands. In the end, Eliot broke first. "You know why, Parker. It was me or you," his voice was far softer but his posture was still extremely defensive. "I protect you, that's what I do."

"No," Parker voice was as soft as Eliot's but left no room for disagreement. "You do so much more. You cook for us. You id things because they have a very particular style. You know all kind of stuff like how to like things or how to speak about wine and you teach us. You take care of us, not just by taking out threats." Parker kept her gazed set on Eliot during the listing, not wavering even when he raised his eyes to meet hers. "We need you. You can't die."

"I'm not planning on it," Eliot lied. Or maybe he didn't. It wasn't a complete lie, he didn't want to die but he had always known that if it came to it, he wouldn't hesitate. "But you guys are more important.

Parker shook her head silently before focusing on the hacker. "Why doesn't he get it?" her voice was frustrated and sad and almost made Eliot flinch.

"He does, he just doesn't believe us." Hardison took a step away from Eliot, standing side by side with Parker. He looked angrier than Eliot had ever seen him and that was just rich.

"Like you are one to talk," he pointed out, still bitter over the incident five month ago. "How long where you on the hospital after deciding to play with scissors and electricity?" he asked unnecessarily. He knew the exact amount of time Alec had expend on that dreadful place, he had counted every second.

"I was strapped in a chair with both of you as hostages. I literally took the only option where there was a possibility of all of us coming out of it alive." Eliot tried to send him his most unimpressed stare, perfectly aware that that hadn't been the reason why Hardison had made that decision but the hacker continued, "You didn't even consider other options before sacrificing yourself."

"I did consider them. They were just too risky." The hitter was getting really tired of this conversation so he turned around to get to the kitchen.

"How so?" Parker demanded, stepping in his way and forcing him to stop. "How in danger was I, in those other options, that you thought that going for your certain dead was the right call?" Too in danger for Eliot to allow it, but not enough that they would accept it, so the man stayed silent. Parker read it in his face though, because she said, "We need you, Eliot." She took a deep breath. "We... We love you." Eliot froze, he knew, of course he knew, but that was the first time she had said out loud. "You know that, right? I know I haven't... I love you." She turned towards her other boyfriend. "I love you too."

Hardison smiled at her, soft and bright and Eliot hated that this moment was tainted because of their anger (or was it fear?). But not as much as he hated the flicker of vulnerability he could recognize in Parker's face. Had his actions forced her to admit her feelings before she was ready?  His boyfriend spoke before he could keep focusing on that line of thought. "We know, girl, of course we know," he said, unconsciously mirroring the hitter's thoughts.

"We do," Eliot agreed, taking a step towards them and letting his arms drop to his sides. "And I love you both. That's why... Look, I don't want to get hurt but if worse came to worse I need you guys to be safe, no matter what. I promised I would protect you till my dying day and I will." His lovers didn't seem too happy with his reasoning so he added, "Me dying doing so it's just the worst case scenario."

Something steeled in the usually warm eyes of the hacker. "No," he said simply. Then he started walking towards the screen they used to debrief the cases. "Follow me."

The thing was, Hardison didn't usually order them around. He teased, complained and asked but he didn't order. Except he just had and Eliot and Parker were only able to share a look before obeying. They took their usual seats, waiting in silence while Hardison worked on his computer.

"Peggy and Edward Miller," he started and a picture of Eliot and Parker hugging appeared on the screen. Thanks to the clothes they were wearing, the older man could recognize that it had been taken during a con but didn't quite remember which. "Newlyweds who just moved to London to start a new life, they had to bring Peggy's lazy brother: Adam Jones, with them. They are adopted and very sensitive about the subject." Eliot opened his mouth to speak but the hacker was faster, "Clary, Henry and Sam are exchange students ready to do a year aboard in a University in Barcelona. Helen and Arthur are twins and want to move with Arthur's fiancée, Jake, into a new place in Hong Kong. Rebecca, Samuel and Raymond are all artist who share a studio in Paris." With every example a photo appeared into the screen along with a small description of their allies. Hardison kept going until all space in his enormous screen was occupied. Meanwhile Eliot sat there, examining every cover and wondering how many hours had been spent creating them, creating a fake life for the three of them. "And those are just some examples. This covers are more solid than some real identities and they each come with a safe house from all over the world in case we ever need to leave the USA. And I know," he raised his hand to stop Eliot for interrupting him, "I know this wouldn't be safe enough if someone other than the government wanted us, if someone wanted us dead, that's why I have this." The photos disappeared, giving way to what seemed to be a map of an island. "There are hundreds of inhabited islands in the Pacific, I bought this one in the name (and with the money) of a rich businessman who a year later had to sell all his proprieties to pay off his gambling debts. Then it was bought by several shell-companies that, if anyone bothered to investigate, would lead straight towards an extremely famous actor, well-known for his desire of privacy. Of course, said actor has no idea the island even exists. A family works there during the weekends and considering the owner paid their daughters' university fees, they know better than to gossip, not that they have any information to begin with. Of course I made sure that the island is self-sufficient and more protected than most military bases so we should be safe there even in the event of a zombie apocalypse." He turned triumphal towards his partners, leveling Eliot with a look. "And that's our worst case scenario, okay? The three of us exiled and forced to be apart of society forever."

"That's... How..." the man found himself speechless for a moment. He cleared his throat before trying again, "How long have you been working on that?"

"Years." Hardison shrugged his shoulders.

"The island is cool but we're going to need a helicopter if we ever go to life there," commented Parker, who seemed to be completely unsurprised by what Hardison had showed them.

"Sure, babe." He smiled softly at her. "You and Eliot can choose the model."

But Eliot was still stuck, looking upfront with glassy eyes. "Are they... The identities, are they always..."

"For three people?" the hacker guessed. His boyfriend nodded and Parker rolled her eyes at him. "Yeah, since the moment I started planning them."

"But you've said years. We haven't been together that long," Eliot reminded him.

"Yes, we have." Parker punched him lightly in the arm. "We just hadn't talked about it yet. But we've been an 'us' for a really long time. I think since Sophie conned us into stealing the second David."

Eliot shook his head. "That's not what I meant Parker. We've been an 'us' for a while yeah, but not the kind of 'us' we are now. Not the kind of 'us', you and Hardison have been since San Lorenzo."

The hacker smiled at him. "Parker knew what you meant, man. And you've always been in this 'us', it just took you a little longer to get it, that's it."

Parker nodded, "Yeah, do you get it now?" She looked at Hardison for a cue on how to act and when he took Eliot's hand in his, she grabbed the other. "The only possible scenarios, good or bad, have all of us together and alive. No matter what. And that's been like this for years."

"So don't you ever dare to consider one where you are not in," Hardison continued. "Because we won't accept it."

And Eliot supposed that it was fair enough. He had decided a long time ago that he would spend the rest of his life by their side, no matter what he had to do or endure. And he had sworn to protect them, but from what? Physical danger? If his years on the army had taught him something, it was that sometime the worst wounds were those that hadn't bled. He remembered every single soldier that had fallen fighting by his side, even though he had never known some of their names, and their deaths weighted on him every day. He refused to inflict this pain on hi lovers. No, Parker had already suffered enough, lost too much. And Hardison... Hardison had a certain innocence in him, not in the legal sense, of course, or in a physical way, but in the way his happiness came effortlessly to him and was contagious even on his partners' darker days. And Eliot refused to taint it. He had realized long ago that he would die for them but now it was clear that that wasn't what they needed. They needed him to live for them. They _wanted_ him to live for them. And Eliot had discovered a long time ago that he was unable to deny them anything. He tightened the grip on their hands and smiled, "Well, I suppose I should stick around, if for nothing else than to make sure you eat something other than cereals and yummy bears." He reluctantly let go of their hands, "I'm doing steak for dinner, that okay?" And they all knew that their answering smiles had nothing to do with food.


End file.
